Child&#39;s educational and amusement device



a. L. E. KUNGBEIL. CHILD'S EDUCATIONAL AND AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 28,192!- 1 378,874. Patented May 24, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.SZMW

UNITED STATES PATENT orries-- GOT'ILIEB L. E. KLINGBEI on OMAHA,NEBRASKA.

CHILDS EDUCATIONAL AND AMUSEMEN T DEVICE.

Specification of Letters latent. Patent d 24 1921 ApplicationfiledJanuary 28,1921. Serial No. 440,749.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Go'r'rnrnn L. E.I{LING-' unit, a citizen of theUnited States of America, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglasand State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Childrens Educational and Amusement Devices, of which thefollowing is a Specification. v

The present invention relates to an educational and amusement device forsmall children and its object is to provide an apparatus adapted for usein the kindergarten, in primary schools and in the'home, constructed insuch inanner that the interest of the child will be stimulated with aresultant rapid advance in spelling, primary arith- Inetic and the like.7

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forthin thedetailed de scription which'follows.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a frontelevation of an apparatus constructed in accordancewith the invention with. the parts in position ready for use; 1

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view through the} devicebutwith protecting shields, hereinafter described, in position both infront of and behind the keys Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal sectionalview through several of the letter tubes;

Fig. 1 isa fragmentary front view illustrating the shield inpositionover the keys;

Fig. 5 is a'fragmentaryrear view illustratin the shield over the rear ofthe keys;

Tig. 6 is a plan View of a tray hereinafter described; Fig. 7 is an edgeelevation of said tray; and

Fig. 8 is an end elevation of the tray. Like numerals designatecorresponding parts in allof the figures of the drawings.

The'device comprises a body portion5 thatis-supported upon end posts 6which terniinate in legs 7. The body portion 5 is vertically channeledto provide a plurality of letter tubes 8, which receive smalluflatblocks 9 having the lettersof the alphabet thereon. There are enough ofthe tubes 8 to accommodateall oflthe letters of the alphabet andnumerals'from 1 to 9 and, if desired, a cipher, as well as the followingsigns Thetop of the body 5 is inclined .or beveled as indicated at 10are deposited in that particular tube.

which not only facilitates the ready entry 'of'the blocks 9 into thetubes 8 but provides a surface 11 upon which letters of the alphabet,numerals and signs corresponding to the several letter tubes may beplaced. A hinged cover 12 is adaptedtoibe folded down hetween upwardlyprojecting portions 13 of V theend members 5 of the body 5 and to coverthe upper ends of the, letter tubes 8. Thus when thedevice is beingcarried from place to'place', the blocks 9 can not be spilled outof theupper ends of the tubes 8. This is, fcourse, a matter of advantage in adevice intended for use by small children i n I A because they arelikely, at any time to turn the apparatus upon its side or upside down.

Disposed beneath .the body 5 and sup-- portedbetween the end posts 6 isa letter tray 14. The rear wall of this tray is eX- tended upwardly asat 1 5 andis secured to a rod 16 the ends of which are engaged withprojecting portions 17 of theposts 6. The end walls of the letter trayare fastened to h posts 6 at 18. The letter blocks 9 are to bee ected'from the letter tubes 8 by keys 19 or 20 as the case may be, and when soejected the blocks fall into the letter tray Hand are picked out of thistray,one at a time, by the child and deposited in the channels 21 of anassembly tray 22, shown in Fig. 6.

In order to provide sufficient space between the keys 19 and 20 sothatany individual key may be selected and pushed without actuating any ofthe other keys, these keys have been arranged in two rows and instaggered relation with respect to each other. Each tube 8 has a keydevoted thereto and the head of thekey is lettered or numbered asindicated at 23 with a letter corresponding to the letters borne by theblocks that To prevent the accidental actuation of the keys and the vaccidental discharge of blocks 9 from the tubes 8, a plateor shield 24is disposed rearwardly of the line of keys and is held in position atone end by hooks 25 (see Fig. 2) and at the other end by a pivoted bar26, said bar being pivoted; at 27 to the plate 24 and having its endsengageable beneath oppositely projecting hooks 28 and 29 whicharesubstantially like the hooks 25 except that their free'ends extendlongitudinally of the body 5 insteadof vertically.

A shield or cover 30 of L shape in cross sectionis adapted to cover thefront of the keys. In placing this shield in position it is slippedlongitudinally inside of the free ends 31 and 32 01 hooks 33 and 3 1(see Fig. 2) and engages at the opposite end beneath correspondinglyshaped and I numbered portions of a pair of hooks. The endwise move mentis limited by a stop hook 35. As long as the shields 2 land are inposition, the

keys 19 and 20 are held against endwise movement. lVhen the device is tobe used, these shields are removed after which the keys may be actuatedto eject the letters in the following manner. If it be desired to selectthe letter C, the child will pull out upon the key marked 2O in Fig. 1.It will be observed that this key bears upon its end the letter O and itis the key that is associated with the letter tube having the C blockstherein. l/Vhen this key is pulled outwardly until its downwardlyprojecting portion 2O abuts against the flange 20 of the bottom 8" ofthe letter tube, one of the blocks C will fall in front of the end 20 ofthe key. Then the key is pushed inwardly and the block is ejectedthrough the rear of the body 5 and falls into theletter tray 14. Theblock is then picked out of the letter tray and placed in one of thechannels 21. of the assembly tray22, as hereinbefore stated, and thisoperation is repeated to select whatever letters may be necessary tobuild the word or sentence selected. The bottoms of those letter tubeswhich receive the lower row 20 of keys is formed by the plate 8. Thebottoms of the letter tubes which receive the upper row of keys 19 areformed by filling locks 8 The assembly tray shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 ispreferably provided with cleats 86 across its bottom which cleats notonly prevent warping of the tray but render it possible to readily tipthe tray so that all of the blocks contained therein may be dumped intothe hand when it is desired to return them to the letter tubes 8. 1

It will be observed that the device of the present invention provides asimple and compact structure, occupying but little space and capable ofa wide range of usefulness in the instruction of young children. usewill appeal to the child more than the mere assembly of the ordinaryalphabet blocks would do for the reason that the average child quicklytires of merely assembling blocks. The desire to operate a mechanicalapparatus, to letter blocks fall therefrom, etc, awakens the interest ofthe child and incites it to persist in the use of the apparatus.

L see the Furthermore the necessity for selectivelydistributing theletter blocks among the letter' tubes, affords further exercise of thechilds mind and further familiarizes the child" with the appearance andidentity of It is to be understood that the invention is not limited tothe particular arrangement herein shown and described for it is manitestthat the principles involved may be embodied in apparatus of othershapes, proportions and sizes without departure from the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: j y

1. A device of the character described comprising a body portion havinga plurality of vertically disposed tubes formed therethrough, letterblocks adapted to fit in and be guided by said tubes, said tubes beingcorrespondingly designated by letters of the alphabet, keys adapted toeject the letter blocks from the bottoms of said tubes, said keys beinglikewise correspondingly designated by letters of the alphabet, a pairof shields and means for securing the same inwardly and outwardly ofsaid keys to thereby prevent movement of said keys.

2. A. device of the character described comprising a body portionvertically channeled to provide a plurality of letter tubes the upperedge of said body portion lying at such angle as to render the samevisible when looking from the front of the body portion and bearingsuitable indicia for the several letter tubes, letter. blocks adapted tofit in and be guided by said tubes and a plurality of correspondinglydesignated keys for ejecting the several letter blocks from the bottomsof said tubes.

3. A structure as recited in claim 2 wherein said ejecting keys aredisposed in a plurality of rows and the keys of the rows are staggeredwith respect to each other.

4. A structure as recited in claim 2 in combination with a hinged coveradapted to be closed down over the open upper ends of the letter tubes.

5. A structure as recited in claim 2 in combination with shields andmeans for securing the sameinwardly and outwardly of said shields tothereby prevent movement of said shields.

6. A device of the character described comprising a bodyportionvertically channeled to form a letter tube, a bottom for said tube and astop flange, carried by said bottom, and a key laterally traversing thebottom of said tube andcut away at its under side for the reception ofsaid stopflange, said key being movable by its outward movement to aposition to permit a letter block to fall in the rear thereof and beingmovable inwardly to eject said block through the rear wall of the bodyportion.

Intestimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

Witnesses: V

MAUDE C. Conny,

I ISLEA R. 7' j

